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When You Get What You Want

The phrase, which became the title of this inspirational
piece, came to me during a recent conversation.The person with whom I was conversing periodically was talking about
wishing for this or for that.As I
listened to her, I realized that wishing for certain things was a way she
expressed hope.For example, I am sure
at one point she must have said something like, “I wish I can have some
kids.”Translated that would have meant
that she planned to have kids…and did have them.

In many ways I can relate to that.I suspect I am not unusual in saying that I
have spent a lifetime wanting certain things.When I was a kid, I wanted to play sports and, of course, wanted to be
good.I did get to play sports, but I
was average at best.I would have to
confess I wanted to date certain girls and sometimes got what I wanted.Other times I got a flat “No!”That was disappointing, but it didn’t kill
me.I suppose most of us realize we
don’t get everything we want.“That’s
life,” goes the saying.

The next realization I had was to be sure that often people
do not even know for sure what they want.Of course, most of us have multiple wants.And that is legitimate.I want many things for my kids and, now, for
my grandkids.That seems quite
normal.In this case having these kinds
of wants is tantamount to saying that I “hope” these things are true for the
kids.

I would like to take this to another level.I would like to think about it in a spiritual
way.For me spirituality is one
significant way people make meaning in life.Of course, there are other ways to make meaning.In many ways meaning is relative.What you find meaningful, I might not find
meaningful at all.It does not make you
right and me wrong.It simply means we
are different.

When we use the phrase, “when you get what you want,” we
have two things involved.The first is
obvious: what we want.The second piece is the timing piece: when we get what we want.Clearly, this assumes there are things we
want and that we will get it or them.Wanting things is not magical.Very often, we work for the things we want.And that is quite good and respectable.

Again, to bring in the spiritual dimension into the picture,
what we want would be meaningful or would bring meaning.Let me get concrete.There are many things people want and, even,
work hard to get that ultimately may not be very meaningful.For example, I know some folks who wanted to
be rich.And they worked hard and made
it happen.Materially, they had a very
easy life.But that may or may not be
meaningful.

We can generalize and say that it is very easy to work hard
to get some of the things we want.And
then we get them and we realize we don’t actually want them that badly.Or we find out that getting what we wanted
turns out to be unsatisfying.We can
turn out to be disappointed with what we thought we wanted.I have had this experience more than once.At one level, it is unbelievable.It is unbelievable to want something, get it
and then be disappointed now that we have it.

This is where it connects to the spiritual.If what I want is spiritual, then it means it
will be inherently meaningful.And this
means that when I get what I want, I will get something meaningful.And that will be satisfying.Again, I can relate personally to this
process.For example, I have wanted to
do in life what I discerned to be God’s desire for me.If I could know and do that, then it would be
inherently meaningful because I would be in good relationship with the Holy
One.If this is true, then nothing else
matters as much.

This knowing leads me to add one more aspect to the original
phrase.The original phrase said, “when
you get what you want.”Of course, that
is simply a phrase.It is not even a
sentence.In fact, it is a conditional
phrase.The conditional word is
“when.”The conditional phrase begs for
completion.And here is how I complete
it: “When you get what you want, make
sure it is what you want!”

“Make sure it is what you want” is a different way of saying
to make your deepest want a spiritual want.If what you want is an authentic, spiritual want, then God will give you
what you want.And if it is a spiritual
want, then when we get what we want, we truly will want it.It will be meaningful.It will be satisfying.It will fit me.

Again to be personal, if my desire is to know and to do
God’s desire for me, then I am bound to be satisfied and content with getting
what I want.It may sound complicated,
but it is actually simple.There are a
million things people can want.But not
everything we want is the same level.At
the deeper, spiritual level, our want is important for our lives.At this level, when you get what you want,
make sure it is what you want.

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